How to Overcome Depression Without Medication

In our daily lives, there are times that we are suffering from something far serious than we thought and more often than not, we tend to ignore it and try to keep it to ourselves. We didn’t even realize that we are suffering from DEPRESSION, ANXIETY and MISERY.

There are times that we try to win that battle without letting our relatives, friends and colleagues know, we even fake our happiness to tell them there’s nothing wrong…

It helps to know the facts that it is a medical condition and not “laziness” to overcome depression, or a temporary response to normal grief and/or discouragement.

What are the Symptoms of Depression?

A major depressive episode is defined as experiencing five or more of the following symptoms every day (or most days) for two weeks or more:

• Depressed or irritable mood
• Sleep problems (i.e., sleeping too much or too little; sleeping mainly during the day)
• Change in interests (i.e., not being interested in what you used to enjoy) or low motivation
• Excessive guilt or unrealistically low self-image
• Significantly low energy and/or change in self-care (i.e., not showering anymore)
• Significantly worse concentration (i.e., sharp decline in grades or performance)
• Changes in appetite (i.e., eating too much or too little)
• Agitation or severe anxiety/panic attacks
• Suicidal thoughts, plans or behaviours — including self-harm (i.e., intentionally cutting or burning yourself)

Not everyone who is depressed is suicidal, yes, it’s important to remember that. You can still seek help even if you haven’t demonstrated any specific suicidal or self-harm behaviours, or even if your symptoms aren’t as severe or persistent as the symptoms noted earlier.  

If I admit that I am feeling depressed, what should I do then?

Some positive coping skills can be useful now that you know the symptoms of depression. All of the following techniques are supported by scientific research and medication prescribers — like psychiatrists — and these skills are frequently recommended as important parts of treatment even for patients who continue to take antidepressant medications.

CAUTION: Without first talking to your medical provider, do not suddenly go off your prescribed antidepressant medications. Discuss any questions or concerns about the side effects of your medications with your provider.  

Practice These Coping Skills Every Day

Once a day, we recommend doing many — if not all — of the following coping skills and techniques when experiencing depression. It’s important to know you probably won’t be motivated to do any of them at first because depression frequently saps motivation. In other words, know that it’s normal to feel unmotivated until you’re halfway done.

Experts of these fields says that the patients they work with who frequently practice these coping skills get better. The seven techniques can be memorized with the acronym MY PEERS.

M for Meaning: Find small ways to be of service to others.

Find personal meaning by serving something larger than yourself. Remember service doesn’t have to be big to count. Consider this, “Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue… as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.” – Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning. You can even try to join a Community Club who conducts community service on a regular basis. You can feel fulfilled and exposed yourself to people at the same time.

Y for Your goals: Find workable goals that give you a sense of accomplishment.

Most people feel guilty when talking about goals because they set unreasonable or unworkable goals. A goal is workable if it’s:

• Something you can control (i.e., it doesn’t depend on others)
• Manageable (i.e., not overwhelming)
• Realistic for you (not for someone else)
• Measurable (i.e., you know whether or not it is done or getting done)

If something goes wrong with your goal, adopt a “what can I learn from this?” attitude (versus a judgmental, “this is why I’m horrible” attitude). Also, be careful when comparing your progress with others. We usually compare our biggest weakness with another person’s biggest strength. This is unfair (and usually not accurate anyhow).

P for Pleasant Events: Schedule pleasant activities or events.

Don’t wait for yourself to be “in the mood.” For example, give yourself permission for a 30-minute “vacation” or schedule a healthy hobby every day. Just remember to do these activities with the right attitude (see Engagement).  Also, practice gratitude — take time to notice what went well today, not just what went wrong.  Consider keeping a gratitude journal.  Know that being grateful for your blessings doesn’t mean you have to discount your problems. Sometimes, it is just so hard to do anything but you need to try as hard as you can to convince yourself to move.

E for Engagement: Stay in the present.

This practice is sometimes called mindfulness. As best as you can, during activities try not to be in your head with self-judgment. You may not be able to turn off the self-judgment, but you can notice it and bring yourself gently back to the present.  Research shows that people with higher self-compassion also have higher self-worth or self-confidence.

Someone said that in order for someone to gain self-confidence, you have to:

• .       Look at what you've already achieved. It's easy to lose confidence if you believe you haven't achieved anything...
• .      Think of things you're good at. Everyone has strengths and talents...
• .       Set some goals...
• .      Talk yourself up...
• .      Get a hobby.

E for Exercise: And, eat right too.

Doing moderate exercise about five times a week (30 minutes a pop) can dramatically help your mood.  Moderate exercise is a level of activity where it is difficult to sing from your diaphragm while doing it.  Also pay attention to how the type of food or drink you’re eating influences your mood.  You don’t have to do fad diets, but anyone will be depressed if they frequently binge on carbs, junk food, and energy drinks. Remember the virtue of moderation. Again, doing this might be very boring, trying to start to exercise might sometimes be a great burden but you need to find the strength to do this. Remember, this should make you feel good about yourself, use that to motivate yourself to exercise.

R for Relationships: Focus on people who lift you up.

Interact frequently with others that bring you up (not people that bring you down). While it’s OK to have some alone time, find a balance and don’t isolate yourself or the depression will linger. Choose the right people to have a healthy conversation, you might have at least one friend who you always have fun talking with. You could also try to talk with a complete stranger, try it, if you’re lucky enough, you could have a great convo or maybe sometimes, you can meet someone who also needs someone to talk to.

S for Sleep Regularly: Try to keep a regular sleep schedule.

Keep a balance with not too little and not too much sleep. Staying up late one night and then sleeping in excessively the next day is a sure-fire way to feed depression.  Also, don’t try to solve problems late at night when your brain is half-asleep. Try to make yourself busy in the morning, you can try to write everything that comes to mind then try to read it the next day and try to understand what you’re going through. The point is, sometimes, we tend to sleep late at night overthinking things, then you’ll wake up late then it will become a cycle. Make yourself busy in the day so you’ll be tired and your body will crave for sleep in the night. If you could find a way to make yourself productive in the day, that will be a great achievement trying to cope with depression and anxiety.

As you practice these coping skills, know that you’re on the path to overcoming depression.

In contrast, depression tends to linger when patients make up a reason why they can’t do these things.  No matter what medication you’re taking, doing several of these activities every day — especially when you don’t feel like it — is vital to the treatment of depression.  These positive coping skills may take time and practice, but if we don’t take the time to be well now, the periods of “unwellness” may be forced upon us later.

Remember, happiness cannot be achieved fully so you need to pursue it everytime. Try to do things that makes you happy, if you’re grieving or in a stage of moving on, try not to linger with the feeling. Give yourself some time to suffer then do everything you can to lift yourself. Surround yourself with great people, remember that every one of us will be in sorrow, you might need them today yet they will need you tomorrow.

Cheerio!